10/27/15

All teams in the playoffs present a challenge.The KC Royals are a very good 95 win team.They’ve won two playoff series to get the
World Series.Very good.

So were the Dodgers.So
were the Cubs.

Both of those teams,
already very good, overweighted their playoff games started by their 2
aces.Normally, they’d have started 40%
of their teams’ games.Against the Mets,
they started 2/3 of the 9 games the Mets have played so far.Despite that distortion, the Mets won 7 of 9.The Mets of August to present, like the Mets
of 1969 from August to finish, are really good.

My
pick to win ALL THE MARBLES?Mets over Royals in 6.

Actually, I think it could be 5 games, but the gate receipts
for at least one more game will come in handy when re-signing Murphy and
Cespedes.

Some writers like to go position
by position.

I will just do it by just 4
categories, starters, relievers, infield, outfield.

1.STARTING PITCHING

METS: Similar to
the Dodgers and Cubs, at playoff time, the Mets eliminate the starters that
helped limit us to 90 wins this season: no Dillon Gee, no John Niese.Even no Bartolo Colon, who was pretty decent
as a starter in 2015.

Those 3 had a combined ERA of a substandard 4.30, and
were just 23-26.What we’re left with to start our playoff games is the
big 4: Jake deGrom, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Steve Matz.All outstanding, all ready.

The youngsters (Thor and Matz) are both ready to dazzle:Matz perhaps less so, because he had so few starts
and the injuries did not allow him to accelerate by season’s end to where he
would have been otherwise.However, Matz
has enough starts under his belt, and enough veteran composure, to excel as
well.

Syndergaard, the 100 MPH man, is emulating Doc Gooden
circa 1984 at season’s end.Gooden went
from splendid with a few growing pains in his first 150 innings, to flat out spectacular after the 150
innings mark in 1984.Thor is doing a repeat of
that Doc stretch.Spectacular.On a par now with deGrom and Harvey.

Oh yeah, before I forget - deGrom and Harvey? Simply, two of the top pitchers in
baseball, both well rested by the series start.

Those 4 aces combined for 40-23, 583 regular season innings, a
WHIP of about 1.05, 593 Ks, and an ERA of about 2.70.In the 9 playoff games, even better.In the World Series, expect dominance from them.

ROYALS: They had
10 pitchers start games in 2015.The
best of all of them was former Met Chris Young (11-6, 3.06), followed by Edison
Volquez at 13-9, 3.55. Their starters are inferior to what the Dodgers and Cubs
threw at the Mets.

Hugeadvantage in starting pitching,
Mets.

2.RELIEF PITCHING

ROYALS:Over a full season, the KC pen was strong and generally
superior to the Mets’ pen.Wade Davis was
terrific with a 0.94 ERA, 17 saves, 8-1 record, 0.79 WHIP, and more than a K
per inning.Outstanding reliever Greg
Holland saw his ERA spike to 3.84 in 2015 after 3 of his previous 4 seasons
having ERAs well under 2.00.But Holland
still saved 32 of 37.Flame-throwing
Kelvin Herrera, hard-throwing Ryan Madsen, Luke Hochevar, and lefty Franklin
Morales round out the key members of a very fine pen.

METS: Terry
Collins and Sandy Alderson did a lot of tap dancing with a pen that had several
key injuries, and at times early in the season looked ready to crumble. Yet with late-season acquisitions, plus the superb and improving
closer for the Mets in place in Jeurys Familia, the pen ended up far stronger
at season’s end than it was most of the season.Addision Reed was a superb late season pick up, Tyler Clippard was great
until late in the season and is a bit suspect right now but a gamer, hard-throwing Hansel
Robles can be used in a limited spot, and starters-turned-playoff-relievers
Bartolo Colon and Jonathan Niese makes the Mets pen almost the equal of the
Royals’ pen.With the Mets’ superior
starters, the KC slight pen advantage is further minimized.I’d rate the two bullpens essentially even, for those
reasons.

3.INFIELD

METS: The Mets
have, in catcher Travis d’Arnaud, 1B Lucas Duda, SS Wilmer Flores, and 3B
Captain David Wright a solid foursome.They also have the surreal Daniel Murphy at 2B, currently the best player on this or any other planet.Utility guys are solid in Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe,
and also available for use as needed is Michael Cuddyer, and so it is an above-average
infield contingent with the bat, and an average one with the glove.

ROYALS: Infield
edge goes to KC.But not by a lot. The
combo of 1B Eric Hosmer, 2B Ben Zobrist, SS Alex Escobar, 3B Mike Moustakas,
and catcher Salvador Perez is a very strong one, with a combined average of
about .280 with solid run production, power, and speed. Them boys is good.

4.OUTFIELD

METS: The Mets
trotted out a bunch of under-performing minor leaguers early in the season,
both in the outfield and in the infield.Alderson made a gargantuan improvement in the outfield when he added
Yoenis Cespedes at the trade deadline, and further spiked the quality of the
outfield with the accelerated debut of Michael Conforto.Curtis Granderson proved to be the consummate
lead off man, getting on base, hitting with power, and running adroitly.Gold glover Juan Lagares and veteran Michael
Cuddyer (plus, if needed, Kirk Nieuwenhuis) give the Mets a clearly above average
outfield.

ROYALS: Lorenzo
Cain had a super season, and he and part-time super-speedster Jarod Dyson stole a
combined 54 of 63 bases, so they can wreak havoc with their speed.Messrs. Gordon, Rios, and Orlando give them 3
more solid outfielders.Close, but I give the outfield edge to the
Mets.

OVERALL:

In the infield, outfield, and bullpen, the two teams are
evenly matched.

The Mets, however, have
the lethal rotation, quite a large advantage over KC.

Given the inordinate impact that an elite rotation can have in
a series, I believe (as noted) that the Mets win the World Series in 6
games, perhaps 5 games.

Let's hope Grandy is OK. I was busy this AM, so had no time to alter the article if Uribe wasn't activated. I Guessed he would be once I heard he was hitting BP homers on Saturday (?), but could have called that one wrong and had an omlette on my face!!

If the go to game 7 and win it all on Nov 4th,it will be a memorable birthday for me. Never thought a season would finish late enough to say that.

I'd still like to see them win in 5.

I have been a Nets fan since Dr J days. The Mets and Nets usually win about 40 to 45% of their combined games. So I guess that means the Nets will lose 60+ this year. The Nets are the poster child of all or nothing player acquisitions, being now left with next to nothing as a result of bad big decisions.